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Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Wine Blogging Wednesday #46 - Rhone Whites

Dr. Debs from Good Wine Under 20 is the June host for Wine Blogging Wednesday and if you are familiar with WBW, it is the host's choice regarding the theme. As Dr. Debs points out: June marks the beginning of summer and now is the time to be looking for white wines to carry us through the warm evenings (However, for some of us we are still waiting on June as we are stuck in “June-uary” weather). The white wine options she has chosen is indeed one of many choices - - and that is any classic white Rhone grape variety - - and she doesn’t care where those Rhone-style grapes were grown or where the wine was produced. Yay! This means I don’t have to “cheat” this month and can feel proud that my choice of the white Rhone grape is a Viognier from Walla Walla!

My Viognier of choice for WBW #46 is from Sweet Valley Wines. Established in 2004, Sweet Valley Wines has since been known as Washington State's 500th Winery! Located in the Walla Walla Valley, Sweet Valley creates limited quantity boutique wines from the area vineyards. And before I get into the descriptions of this wine, I am really proud to say that it received a Bronze medal at the 2008 NorthWest Wine Summit, which is the largest wine contest in the Northwest - - and I was also a judge at this blind judging contest. Who knew I would be a part of giving this wine a medal.

I am finicky about Viogniers I drink. For me to pay attention to this variety of wine, it needs to have all the right components I am looking for in a Viognier. Hard to describe, but I need to immediate smell from the glass aromas of pear and honeydew melon and some background notes of floral is a plus. I don’t want to search for those aromas - - they must be dominant. Those aromas have to continue on my palate and yet it must be crisp with a bright finish. Aged in 100% stainless for seven months accomplished the clean finish and brightness of this great summer wine. There’s no doubt that this 2007 Sweet Valley Viognier exceeded my expectations and makes for perfect food pairings such as with salads, seafood, spicy pollo or Thai dishes. It's a wine that I think Dr. Debs would approve of as it's priced under $20. Only 69 cases were produced and besides the winery, you can also purchase it from the Wild Walla Walla Wine Woman. It is definitely an easy drinking summer wine!